A Torontonian's ramblings on politics with especial attention to the local.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Palin Problems

McCain's VP picks increasingly looks to be the 2008 answer to Dan Quayle. There are a growing list of problems for Gov. Palin. First and foremost, her 17 year old daughter is five months pregnant. Why is this a problem? Well, if the goal is to appeal to working class women, particularly mothers, how is this story going to play. How many mothers would think it appropriate to throw their 17 year old pregnant daughter into the national spotlight? How many mothers would think it appropriate to be moving halfway across the planet (check out the distance from Washington to Alaska) at this time of personal upheaval? This is the kind of thing that politicians (of any gender) might leave politics to deal with, not try to climb the ladder. Obama is right to say that the Palin family is not up for political discussion. However, if Gov. Palin is being picked in large measure for her values, for her personal qualities as a human being, it is entirely fair to question a potential vice-president's judgment in a time of personal crisis. Further muddying Palin's judgment is the trooper-gate affair. Once again, the central actors in the story are almost irrelevant. Whether or not Palin's former brother-in-law is an abusive husband and father is almost irrelevant. No matter how dispicable her brother-in-law is, the Governor was in a clear conflict of interest and should have recused herself and her office from any involvement in the case. The fact that she may have taken steps to have her brother-in-law fired and subsequently fired a bureaucrat who defied her wishes is at issue. The allegations, if true, would further cast doubt on Palin's judgment. Even if we throw Palin's experience or lack thereof out the window, her lack of judgment should disqualify her from the office that she seeks.